“Mellow Out,” They Say. If I Only Could

By Michael M. Piechowski, Ph.D.

$20.00$25.00
Order Code: 4915

This highly acclaimed book is for parents and teachers of gifted young people and to serve the young people as a friendly mirror in which they can recognize themselves for who they are. It explores intensity and sensitivity and introduces the concept of openness to experience that, together with intuition and overexcitability, forms the blend of personality characteristics common in gifted children.

Description

This highly acclaimed and valued book is intended for parents and teachers of intense and sensitive young people and to serve the young people as a friendly mirror in which they can recognize themselves for who they are.

Gifted children and adults tend to be intense, and this intensity often makes them seem strange to others. Their reactions are often viewed by others as overreactions, when in fact these individuals are simply responding to the environment (both without and within) with the overexcitability that is a fundamental trait of giftedness. Mellow Out explores that intensity and sensitivity, giving voice to gifted youth in numerous excerpts throughout the book.

In this updated edition, Piechowski introduces the concept of openness to experience that, together with intuition and overexcitability, forms the blend of personality characteristics typical of the great majority of gifted children. He expands on the topic of visual-spatial, picture, and nonvisual alternative thinkers, and he introduces the concept of emotional style and its six dimensions that have specific activation areas in the brain. In addition, he expands on the topic of spiritual giftedness, an often-neglected area of study within gifted populations.

Dr. Michael Piechowski has been honored with a SENG Lifetime Achievement Award.

Details

Edition
Second
Ages
14, 15, 16, 17, 18, Parents & Other Caregivers, Teachers & Schools
Grades
9, 10, 11, 12
Subjects
Books on Giftedness for Parents & Educators, Books for Gifted Children, Twice-Exceptionality
Formats
eBook
Pages
377
ISBN
978-0-89824-491-5
Order Code
4915

Reviews

Reviews of the first edition:

“Reading these pages is like having a heart-to-heart conversation with gifted youth. By letting them speak in their own voices, Michael Piechowski has afforded us the most honest glimpse into the Heart and Soul of giftedness.” – Annemarie Roeper, Founder of the Roeper School, author of Educating Children for Life

“It is like being introduced to my son for the first time.” – parent of a gifted boy

“Your book is like striking gold for us! On the way to a movie, I was listening to you being interviewed on the radio. My two girls (ages 5 and 10) were in the back chatting away. Suddenly, my 10-year-old screamed, ‘Mom!  He’s talking about me!  How does he know me?!’ I explained that you don’t know her. She then said, ‘That’s how I feel. That’s what goes on in my head too!’” – Kathy Bero, Watertown, WI

“For years, I have waited for Michael Piechowski to put together the full picture of what it means to be gifted. In this volume, he does just that. A book of magnificent proportions—it is erudite, down-to-earth, and written with a sensitivity that will cause readers to recognize in themselves the inner qualities of giftedness.” – James R. Delisle, Ph.D., author of Gifted Children Speak OutGuiding the Social and Emotional Development of Gifted Youth, and the Gifted Kids’ Survival Guide

“This book is Michael Piechowski’s long-awaited magnum opus on emotional intelligence. It resonates with the real voices of gifted adolescents who speak with insight and passion about the realities of their emotional lives.” – Jane Piirto, Ph.D., author of Understanding Creativity“My Teeming Brain”: Understanding Creative Writers, and Talented Children and Adults

“I believe people are going to have remarkable emotional experiences reading your book. Thank you for fighting the labeling of exceptionality as pathological. I like your contrast of emotionality and emotional intensity. The implicit question of what to do with all this intensity and sensitivity is answered in [this book] with all practicality, providing a sampler of helpful exercises for growth. The exercises come alive because you have studied them with real individuals’ real experiences that are compelling and too singular not to be true. This is a masterful book, apparently charming and innocent but packing a huge punch of higher reality.” – Elizabeth Maxwell, Associate Director, Gifted Development Center